By order of a Prosecutor of the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption SIPA officers arrested several suspects, including one ITA official, in several towns in BIH and conducted searches of premises and facilities used by the suspects.

The Assigned Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is out in the field, together with professional staff, as of last night and is coordinating the activities carried out by officers of SIPA and ITA.

The Prosecutor’s Office of BiH has, while carrying out an investigation in the organized crime case, been informed that the owners of the company Bauwelt, within which the retail facilities of OBI operated, had transferred a large amount of goods for sale and drafted false documentation indicating that the goods were damaged in storage due to the catastrophic floods that engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 months ago.

Goods worth more than BAM 4 million were secretly relocated to other locations to be sold and cashed in. False documentation that the goods were damaged and destroyed in the floods were made with the help of ITA officer aiming to evade payment of VAT and duties on the goods valued at approximately BAM 1.5 million, which is the damage caused to the budget and the citizens of our country.

The investigation determined that the suspects intended to close the business facilities of OBI and that they, as an organized criminal group, attempted to exploit the natural disaster for the purpose of perpetration of criminal offenses and to causing damages to the BiH budget.

The aforementioned legal entity that is the subject of the investigation has not been doing any business with OBI Company for more than a few months back.

The suspects are under investigation for criminal offenses of Organized Crime under Article 250, Tax Evasion or Fraud under Article 210, Abuse of Office or Official Authority under Article 220 and illegal Interceding under Article 219 of the Criminal Code of BiH.

Following the arrest, the suspects will be handed over to the Assigned Prosecutor who will question the suspects and then make a decision on a motion for remand in custody or imposure of prohibiting measures in accordance with CPC BiH.

Then Prosecutor’s Office of BiH is determined in prosecuting organized crime and corruption. Following the catastrophic floods that have befallen BiH the Prosecutor’s Office emphasized that it will prosecute all persons who attempt to profit from the situation by perpetrating criminal offenses or acquiring illegal proceeds, as well as that all such perpetrators will be discovered and rigorously punished.